Covering the blossoming startup industry in Portland, Oregon, and the Silicon Forest

June 15th, 2010

30 Hour Day needs your help

You may know that one of our pet projects around here is 30 Hour Day, a Web-based telethon designed to raise money for local Portland charities and to raise awareness for charities worldwide.

Think Jerry Lewis meets YouTube. Only better. It’s 30 straight hours of entertainment and music, streamed over the Web so that anyone, anywhere can watch it from the comfort of his or her Web browser.

But it can’t take place without your help.

Why would anyone do this? Well, that’s a good question. You see, we’re a group of folks who spend a great deal of our time online, for both business and fun. But we always wanted to try to do something more. To use our knowledge for good. To provide for those who might not have the wherewithal to provide for themselves.

And that grew into 30 Hour Day.

Last year, 30 Hour Day was seen by more than 70,000 people around the world. It raised more than $7000 in cash, toys, and food for charities like Free Geek, Oregon Food Bank, and Toys for Tots. And all of those donations are run through Facebook and Causes—so that the money goes directly to the charities as quickly and efficiently as possible.

What’s more, the 30 Hour Day content is available under Creative Commons so that anyone can use it to raise money for their own causes and charities.

You see, 30 Hour Day is an entirely volunteer run effort. And in order to pull it off, we need the assistance of sponsors who are willing to provide funds and donations to help make it happen. There are a variety of levels available that will garner your organization everything from an on-air mention to a table in the Square throughout the show.

So if the project sounds interesting to you, we’d love to answer your questions, talk to you about how you can participate, or discuss some creative ways to promote your involvement in 30 Hour Day. Please don’t hesitate to contact us thirtyhourday@gmail.org.

We’re hoping you’ll join us in making 30 Hour Day 2 an event to remember.